Jackunzel Cafe AU
by DisneyDame88
Summary: One Shot. Modern Cafe AU. Jack felt like he had been invisible his whole life until a certain blonde artist saw him...


Jack began making his way over to the table the customers had just vacated.

"Hey, thanks for your custom have a nice - "

The café door closed firmly behind them, the jingling bell cutting off his sentence.

"…day."

Jack sighed. It's not like he expected this job to be _fun _exactly, but being treated like an invisible entity was a bit….disheartening.

There were only a few customers in the cafe so he began collecting the empty mugs and saucers before heading behind the counter to fetch a broom.

"I guess I should be used to it by now…." he thought to himself, absentmindedly swinging the broom over his shoulder as he made his way to one side of the floor.

It's not like he was _bullied _exactly, but Jack couldn't help feeling that for his entire life he'd always been invisible.

Having moved from place to place throughout most of his childhood, it felt like he was always surrounded by new people, always starting over trying to make friends. You might think that being the new kid would make him exciting and interesting but no – instead it seemed like he always spent his entire time at a new school trying to play catch up, trying to get into friendship groups only to feel their indifference.

He couldn't think of anything worse than feeling so unimportant that others couldn't even be bothered to form an opinion of you – they didn't like him or hate him. They didn't _anything _him. He was invisible. Even dying his hair white once he had left school hadn't made any difference.

He had accepted by now that he was fated to a life of floating along with mild acceptance and the indifferent smiles of his classmates and colleagues as they went about their work, but that didn't stop him from taking joy in life.

Jack had always had a spark of fun within him that no amount of indifference could smother. Though he might not have anyone to share it with, he would laugh loudly and with all his heart whenever the occasion arose. Just today he had had to duck behind the counter to hide his chortling after seeing a customer take a sip of his hot chocolate and remain completely oblivious to the whipped cream on his nose.

A smirk spread across his face as he recalled the look on the man's face when someone eventually told him.

"Jack, when you're done daydreaming can you take this bill over to the girl by the window?"

He was jolted out of his reminiscing at his manager's instruction. Turning to face him he gave a mock salute "Sure thing Boss, Mr Bunnymund Sir!"

His manager merely rolled his eyes and went back to the till. He was used to Jack's antics by now. He supposed he should just be grateful Jack hadn't called him Bunny (as he usually did) in front of the customers!

Jack leant the broom against the wall and turned to see who he was taking the bill to. He froze. It was _her. _

In truth he should have realised the moment Bunny had said "the girl by the window". He'd noticed her the moment she had walked into the café; looking up at the jingle of the bell he had been captivated by her long blonde hair tied into a neat braid, flowing all the way down to her waist and entwined with flowers. The chill breeze that had followed her in through the door had only served to waft her sweet floral perfume over to him - his first thought was that she was like walking Spingtime in the middle of Winter.

Sketch pads and texts books had been tucked chaotically underneath her arms and he had noticed a few smudges of paint on her lilac jumper. Despite his hands still being full of dirty cutlery he felt himself moving towards her almost without thinking, but stopped short when his colleague Ana beat him to it.

He had felt a slight twinge of annoyance as he heard her bright chirpy chatter with the girl, but quickly dismissed it. Ana, or Tooth as he liked to call her, was a sweetheart - a bit excitable and oddly obsessed with dental hygiene (hence his nickname for her) but a sweetheart all the same. It was ridiculous to expect her to have read his mind and know he'd have liked to speak to the mystery blonde. He heard her order the hazelnut soup and smiled at the sound of her clear, gentle voice.

Any excuse he thought of to go over to her was continually scuppered by being called away to work elsewhere; new customers, cleaning duties, helping out in the kitchens – it felt like everything was against him!

But now here it was – his chance!

He ran his fingers through his hair nervously and then made his way over to her table. As he approached he noticed that she had a text book held up to her face and her eyes were firmly glued to it; her closed sketch pad was underneath her elbows, papers sticking out haphazardly as if they had been pushed there in a rush.

He coughed slightly to announce his presence and he noticed her tense before her eyes flickered nervously upwards to meet his.

"Woah…her eyes are HUGE" he thought to himself, slightly dazed at the green orbs staring back at him. He didn't notice a faint blush spread across her cheeks.

"Err…your bill?" he cracked out a lopsided smile upon realising he was just standing there in silence.

"Oh, um, thanks…." She blinked. And promptly hid back behind her book.

Eyebrows furrowing slightly he noticed that her soup was only half eaten. "Was everything ok with the soup?" he enquired, trying again to start a conversation.

A noncommittal squeak came from behind the book and he waited a moment before accepting the fact that any form of dialogue just wasn't going to happen. He sighed -

he should have expected it really. He was the invisible waiter yet again; even some book about a dead artist was more interesting than he was.

With a sinking heart he collected her soup and dirty cutlery and took it out to the kitchens.

He came back onto the shop floor just in time to hear a jingling bell and catch a glimpse of blonde hair fly out the door.

"Wonder where she's going in such a rush?" he murmured to himself.

"Oh she suddenly shrieked something about being late for class" Tooth chattered, appearing suddenly at his side. "Really sweet girl, she's taking art classes at Corona University round the corner, you know it?"

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "She…told you that?"

"Oh yes! She was really friendly, once of those genuinely nice people you know? She was telling me about how she likes to cut through the park because not only is it a shortcut to the University but she gets real inspiration from all the nature there. I get the feeling she'd talk to anyone about anything" Tooth chuckled.

"Except me" Jack thought sadly, before forcing a grin "Well as long as she remembered to pay the bill before she rushed off!"

Approaching her table to collect the money, Jack noticed a piece of paper underneath the recently vacated chair. Picking it up, he stared at it blankly for a moment before his eyes widened as he took it in.

The paper was covered in drawings – of him! They were just sketches, hastily done, but obvious attention had been paid to the smallest of details. There were his hands, balancing a tray or clasping three mugs at once. There was his profile, his smile, his eyes, even a faintly unfinished sketch of him with the broom over his shoulder.

She _had_ seen him. He wasn't invisible to her.

Before they knew what had happened, his colleagues heard the door bell jingle and looked up to find that Jack had vanished.

Feet pounding on the pavement, Jack's breath billowed in small white puffs of cloud as he raced through the chilly streets in search of her blonde hair. He knew the direction to the University, and he knew which way she would be going – the shortcut through the park!

Turning sharply through the iron gateway into the public park he felt his heart leap when he spotted a blonde braid ahead of him. Racing the last few steps towards her, he reached out for her shoulder.

"Hey, you forgot your – OOMPH!"

Jack doubled over, clutching his stomach and groaning. Upon grabbing her shoulder, the small girl had squeaked in surprise and swung round – promptly walloping him in the stomach with her heavy text books.

The girl's eyes flew wide open when she realised who it was she had just hit.

"Oh my goodness….I'm…I'm SO sorry! I thought you were a ruffian or something…."

"Ruffian?" Jack joked weakly, standing up straight again with a wince. "Who says ruffian anymore?"

"You know what I mean…." She mumbled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear self consciously. "But still….I'm sorry, I was just surprised."

"You and me both" he winked at her, before holding out the piece of paper he had been clutching tightly. "Here, you left this at the café. Sorry, I might have crumpled it a bit…"

Realising what he was holding the girl went bright red and snatched it out of his hand.

"Oh! Did you – er I mean – it isn't….you weren't supposed to see that…" she trailed off, obviously incredibly embarrassed and her eyes fixated on a spot on the floor that suddenly seemed very interesting.

"That's ok….they're – they're really good. I mean, not that I'M good, I mean your drawings, as in you draw really good-" Jack cut himself off to stop himself rambling and blew out another puff of cold air in frustration.

The blonde peeked up at him and giggled; put at ease slightly at seeing he was also nervous.

"What I'm trying to say it – I'm Jack. Nice to meet you." He stuck his hand out in a jokingly formal manner.

Tucking her books under one arm, the girl smiled and took his hand with her own before shaking it gently. "I'm Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel….cool name" he grinned at her, releasing her hand and shoving his own back into his pocket "Much more interesting than Jack!"

"Oh no, I like the name Jack!" she replied hurriedly.

He smiled, liking the way it sounded when she said it. "Yeah, I guess it's not too bad. Anyway, I know you're late for class and all…" she squeaked at the reminder, eyes flying down to her watch "…and I'm probably gonna be fired if I don't get back to the café soon, so…..would you like to meet up again sometime? For a coffee or something?" Jack scuffed the toe of his shoe against the floor nervously, waiting for her answer.

He didn't have to wait long as her face broke into the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

"Yes. Yes, I'd like that."


End file.
